


You Will Remember Me

by Krasimer



Series: For Many Years We've Been All Alone [5]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: AU, Alternate History, Backstory, Borderline Personality Disorder, F/M, Growing Up, M/M, Set in the sixties, Something's wrong with Jeremy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-04-01
Packaged: 2018-03-20 09:20:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3645018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krasimer/pseuds/Krasimer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What was done was done, but that doesn't mean that it's the end of the story.</p><p>It started out with four friends who were hired at the same workplace, and it ends with two of them dead, one of them in a care facility, and one of them obsessed with the occult.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just a warning: There are references to bullying and physical abuse in this bit. There's a slur thrown in, and I personally do not like the slur, but considering the time period and the event, it fit.

**May 31st, 1966**

It started in a high school, of all places.

In nineteen-sixty-six, it started in a high school, which was where the new actors for the four main characters of Freddy Fazbear's pizzeria were when they started. It was an ordinary day, and the four were sitting at a patio table that was halfway drowned in shadows. 

Lenora Qualin, who would later rename herself Lenora Quail in honor of who she played, leaned out into the sunshine and groaned. "We're three weeks from being done with school for the year, I just want it to be done already..."

"Heh, cheer up chipper-britches," William Bradect patted her shoulder blade. "If you're in such a hurry to get me out of here, all you have to do is say so."

She laughed, a bright sound that matched the sun in how it shone. "Well, you at least have something to do while I finish school, you've got a job waiting for you at that Fazbear joint. You're gonna be a pirate!" she broke down into giggles, then stole his lunch bag, digging through it until she found the small bar of chocolate that he kept at the bottom of it. As she munched on it, she adopted a voice that was as deep as she could go. "Introducing William Bradect as-" she spread her hands wide. "Foxy the Pirate!" 

"Well, Lass," he affected an accent as well, an Irish sounding brogue that went well with the rough grumble of his voice. "Yer only a year younger than me, and then you can come wit' me on th' seven seas." he broke down into laughter when she flopped across his spread legs, her head cradled on his thighs.

"Oh god, could you be any cuter?" one of the other boys called, his chin resting in his hand. "Besides, you know my uncle already told me that we all got the jobs, right?"

The boy next to him grinned shyly, his left hand in view on the tabletop as he brushed his hair out of his face. When he didn't say anything, Lenora turned to look at him. "Harvey? You alright?" she sat up a little, bracing herself on her elbows. "Or do you just not feel like talking today?"

"Well, I- Ah-" he stuttered, then mumbled something and buried his face in the other boy's shoulder. 

"What'd he say?" William asked. "Jeremy?"

Jeremy met his eyes, then looked down at Harvey. "He just said that he's trying to get used to not being talked over, 'S all." Under the table, his hand tightened reassuringly on Harvey's, his thumb stroking gently over the warm skin on the back of it.

William grinned at them, then turned to the side. Going stiff, he tapped Lenora's shoulder.

She sat up completely, swiping her hand across her throat at Harvey and Jeremy. "Cool it guys!" she hissed, her lips pressing together as one of the teachers walked past. The teacher didn't even stop, just called out a greeting to the group of them and kept moving, but the reminder made Jeremy and Harvey drop each other's hands like hot potatoes.

Jeremy watched as the teacher walked away, both of his hands on the tabletop, curled into fists that were so tight his knuckles were dead white. "I hate this." he snarled when it was back to being just the four of them again. "Why the hell is it wrong for me to-" he bit his lip, stemming the flow of angry words. 

"One day," Lenora leaned across the table and ruffled his hair. "Us four will be able to just leave this town and go. Won't have to worry about anything but survivin', it'll be the four of us, and we can go to a big city where no one knows us and you two can be together."

Harvey trembled in his seat, hands digging deep into his hair as he mumbled something, the words overlapping until nothing could be picked out of the mess. 

With a teary sigh, Jeremy reached over and took his hands in his own, kissing each knuckle. 

William wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's waist. "And if anyone has a problem with it, you tell me, alright? Set the six foot eight guy on them, see how much of a problem they still have with you existing." he shrugged, curling down so that he could set his chin on Lenora's shoulder. "Anyone who has a problem with two guys being together can...Well, I don't know what they can do, but they can certainly not do it around my friends."

The school bell rang and all four of them grabbed their bags, William taking Lenora's from her and carrying it. 

 

**June 4th, 1966**

Harvey stood in front of a door, hand raised as if he were going to knock.

It didn't seem like he was going to, however, because he stood there for a few more minutes, hands raised in the air and unmoving. From inside the house that the door was connected to, there was screaming, a woman's voice that was so filled with anger that it had become painfully shrill. 

"-TEFUL CHILD! I SHOULD HAVE THROWN YOU OUT YEARS AGO, DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT I'VE GIVEN UP TO GIVE YOU EVERYTHING?"

A heavy thud of something being thrown against the wall made Harvey take several steps back, his eyes wide in worry as he waited. His hands were curled in the edge of his shirt as he watched the door, the handle turning so fast that he couldn't brace himself for who might be coming out. 

Instead of the yelling coming for him, there was a pair of wide eyes set in a pale face, a bush of brown hair curled around them. "Hi Harvey." the little girl whispered. "Are you here for Jeremy?" 

"Y-" he swallowed the rest of the word, and she waited patiently for him to continue. "Yeah. H-hi Reb-becca. Yes, I'm here for your brother." he shoved his hair out of his face, cheeks a deep embarrassed pink. "Is everything a-alright?"

She nodded solemnly, then tugged him off to the side of the house. "Mom's not having a good day today. She threw a boot at the wall."

"Did it hit e-either of you?" Harvey gulped nervously, eyes scanning the nine year old's face for any sign of injury. As if she knew what he was doing, she held out her arms for his observance as well, her tiny hands grabbing onto his sleeve and tugging him closer. Rebecca wrapped her undamaged arms around him, hugging tightly.

"It didn't, but you're going to want to check on his arm." she nuzzled into his shoulder. "Mom put her nails into the skin."

Jeremy came around the corner of the house then, stopping next to the two of them and wrapping his arms around both. "We ready to go, Beck?" he curled his fingers underneath his sister's chin, smiling at her. There was a patch of tender looking skin around his eye, like a fresh hit to the face, but he ignored what pain he must have been feeling. "Mom gave me money to take all three of us out for ice cream, and I told her I was taking Beck with us." he explained to Harvey.

With a small smile, Harvey nodded. "That sounds lovely." 

He slipped his hand into Jeremy's for a second, grateful for the high fence that blocked the neighbor's view of them. Rebecca glanced at the street, making sure that no one saw them while they said hello to each other with a kiss. 

"Shall we?" Jeremy let go of Harvey's hand slowly, taking his sister's instead. Following his lead, Harvey took her other one. 

"Can I get sprinkles?" Rebecca asked, skipping along to match their stride.

"I th-think so," Harvey met Jeremy's eyes. "I don't see- See why not."

Jeremy laughed, a pleased sound from his belly as grinned. "Now, if Harv wants sprinkles, that might be pushing it."

"Why?" Rebecca giggled. "What'd he do?"

"He did everything right," Jeremy informed her, the same solemn look on his face that she'd had only a few minutes before. "But he forgot to bow to the Queen of Bookland." he mock bowed to his sister, his free arm sweeping in to tuck against his stomach. "All hail Queen Rebecca!"

"Oh!" Harvey played along. "What an oversight!" his stutter was all but gone, the glee of being with his boyfriend and the young girl who was so close to pretty much being his little sister too wiping it out of his mouth. He followed suit, bowing as he walked. "Please, dear Queen, do not be too cruel in your punishment."

Rebecca stuck her little nose in the air. "You must carry me back home when it's time to go." she informed him, her voice lofty in a way that wavered as she tried to hold back laughter.

 

As it happened, Harvey's punishment was never carried out.

When they left the ice cream parlor, a rusty red pick up truck swung into the parking lot. Behind the wheel was Jeremy and Rebecca's uncle, Robert Orsani. As he rolled to a stop, he sneered at Harvey. "Get in, you two. Your mother is worried sick about you."

"We've only been out for two h-" Jeremy snarled back.

"I said get in, Jeremy. Your mother wants you home." Orsani growled the words, a threat lacing them. He watched like a hawk as Jeremy bundled Rebecca into his arms and slid her into the backseat, following after. "One of you could sit up front, you know." he shot over his shoulder, even as he pushed Harvey back.

One too strong push and Harvey was laid flat out on the sidewalk, arms flailing as he tried to right himself.

"I promised my sister that I'd watch out for them," Orsani sneered again, already angling the car so that he could drive off. "And that includes keeping the wrong sort away from them."

Rebecca pushed herself up against the window as her uncle sped away, looking back at Harvey with her hands pressed against the glass. He only looked away when he couldn't see the car anymore. He sat on the curb for a while, knees pulled to his chest and spots of dirt scuffing up his pants. 

"Why am I the wrong sort?" he whispered, cuffing away a few tears as they trailed down his face. "I wish we were already old enough to get away from here."

He walked home as the sun disappeared behind some clouds, shadows obscuring his path. 

 

**June 11th, 1966**

"Now, boys, we need to get orientation down quickly, we've got customers coming in and they got a little boy who wants to see the whole crew, got it?"

Harvey nodded, hands clasped together in front of him. Beside him, Jeremy stared emotionlessly at his uncle, his eyes somewhat dazed. When they did focus, it was on a point somewhere beyond Orsani's shoulder, towards a patched wall that seemed wrong. The color of the drywall was off-white, a shade too dark to match the rest of it. 

When Harvey looked at that part of the wall, he thought he could hear screaming.

William stood on his other side, a hand raised as he looked at his new manager. "Sir? I heard something about a room that was blocked off a couple of years ago. Do you know what happened there?"

"Well, listen close because I am not going to repeat this." Orsani leaned in close to all three of them, a hand on William's shoulder and a hand on Jeremy's shoulder. "There was once a dumbass who did something stupid in there. Now it's sealed off. If you ask about it again, I'll have you fired. Got it?" he repeated the phrase, letting his teeth show in a sickeningly smug grin. "Now, get to work."

He walked away, his foot catching on Harvey's toes as he walked past him, sending the boy to the floor. At the thud, Jeremy held out a hand to help him up, finally seeming to snap out of his daze. "You okay, Harv? That sounded bad." 

Harvey nodded, brushing himself off and going to retrieve the last piece of his costume. The rabbit head teetered on the edge of horrifying, a foam and fabric contraption that had been deemed safe to wear after the old costumes had been packed away. "I'm fine." he muttered, crossing the room to his guitar case and pulling it out so that he could tune it. 

Jeremy followed him, snagging the Freddy head as he went by. "There's only a couple more months before we're eighteen, Harv. We can get out of here then." he looked over at William, who nodded and stood at the door. "You, me, Lenora, and MAYBE Will if he stays good." 

With a soft laugh, a hopeless sort of sound, Harvey nodded. "Will's the only one with his license so far."

"Alright, so we do definitely need him." Jeremy grinned, his palms pressed into Harvey's cheeks. "We need transport. But yeah, only a few more months and then we're out of here. I'll even-" he sighed, tears welling up in his eyes. "We'll figure out a way to come visit Beck, even."

"We could just tell your mom that she's coming with us and take her..." Harvey muttered. "It would get us in so much trouble, but we could."

Jeremy pressed his lips to Harvey's forehead, curling the shorter boy into his arms and holding him tightly. "We could. You'd be willing to put up with that for me?"

"Are you kidding me?" Harvey laughed again, the sound stronger this time. "Rebecca's more polite than you. I'd have her with us in a heartbeat if it meant getting to see her all the time." he sighed. "I may love you, but she's basically the little sister I never got."

"Want her? I will sell her to you if she comes into my room again without asking." Jeremy joked, his fingers sliding up into his boyfriend's hair and scratching at his scalp. "Love you too, Harv." he whispered. 

If Harvey had known then what lay around the corner. he might have fled the town before it could happen.

 

**June 20th, 1966**

"Get him!" a thick-bodied boy with severe acne on his face shouted.

Harvey ducked through the halls of the school, his feet slipping out from under him as he turned a corner. He fell flat, chin smacking hard enough to make a clicking sound as his teeth rebounded off each other. The leader of the pack jammed a foot into his back as he tried to get up. "Don't bother, dorkus." he laughed, the sound oddly similar to a hyena. "Unless you're gonna make kissy faces at me? I don't want your faggot germs."

"Hey," Jeremy called, his feet stopping a few inches away from the tip of Harvey's nose. "You gonna let someone else have some fun too?"

The boy grinned, then stepped back and hauled Harvey to his feet. "I shouldn't hog all the fun." he agreed, his hand pressed firmly into the smaller boy's windpipe. Trying to take a breath, Harvey watched as Jeremy pressed closer, whining as a viscious punch landed on his hip, doubling him over.

Before he went down, he caught sight of Jeremy's eyes.

They were black, the color of them wiped out in the darkness that took them over, and if he looked closely in the middle of them, there was a dot of red.

The beating passed by in a blur, leaving Harvey a slightly bloodied mess on the floor. Swiping at his nose, he pulled his bag into his lap, frowning at the sight of blood on his sleeve. Dusting himself off, he pressed back against the lockers, letting his head drop backwards with a clang.

"You alright?"

Harvey looked up, meeting William's eyes. "H-has Jeremy b-been acting weird around you lately?"

"Oh, you mean like every day since we started working?" William held out a hand, helping the smaller teen to his feet. With a frown, he brushed off his back, wiping away the dusty bootprint that sat between his shoulderblades. "He's not being...Yeah, I think it's safe to say I've noticed. You're going to be alright to perform today, do you think?"

"I- Yeah." Harvey nodded, shrugging with one shoulder. "Orsani w-will fire m-me if I don't."

"His nephew just beat you up, if he fires you I am going to go over his head and report him." William slung an arm around Harvey's neck, careful not to touch any of the quickly purpling bruises. Written on Harvey's locker was the same slur that had been thrown at him all throughout the beating, and William did his best to slide Harvey past it without it being seen by him. "What the heck is going on with him lately, anyways?"

"I wish I knew." Harvey shrugged again, clutching his bag to his chest. "But he'll zone out when we're at work, staring at the patched part of the wall in the break room and he won't talk to me for hours afterwards."

"So he's being a penis face." William answered, trying to lighten the mood.

Harvey looked up to meet his eyes. "I think he wants to break it off." he whispered, rubbing at a scrape on his arm. "Too much of a risk to even think of kissing the fat boy who can-can't talk right, why would he want to date me? If an-anyone finds out, we're both screwed, b-but he's popular and a jock and there is so much more for him to lose if someone finds o-out that he's like...Me."

William shook his head. "You're not fat and you're awesome. If I were so inclined, I would date you myself."

"...W-wouldn't Lenora have something to s-say about that?" Harvey smiled for the first time since William had tracked him down. The two of them were in the parking lot now, heading for William's painstakingly cared for car. "W-w-wait, am I go-going with you to work?"

"Might as well give you a ride. We're going to the same place and I want you to not be fired by an asshole." William opened the car door for him, mock bowing as he did. "We are also going to sit here for a few minutes so that the love of my life can come running and I can pick her up and spin her around in a hug. She starts working as Chica today, and management might have some scripts for me and her to act out that have Chica being part of my crew."

They waited together, and a few minutes passed in silence.

"...What are you going to do if he breaks it off?" William asked quietly. 

Harvey put his forehead against the window, the cool glass a stark contrast to his overheated skin. "I don't k-know." he whispered miserably.


	2. Pretend It's Meant To Be

**June 23rd, 1966**

The break room was locked.

William tilted his head back and sighed, his hand on the knob. Shaking his head, he knocked on the door, muttering something under his breath. "Hey?" he called, jiggling the handle. "I need my costume, can you open the door?"

A few moments passed before unsteady footsteps came closer and the lock turned audibly.

On the other side of the door was Jeremy, and he pressed his face against the side of the door. With a whimper of breath, he met his friend's eyes. "Hey Will." he whispered, knuckles going white from his grip on the wood. "Is Harv with you?" he leaned out from behind the door, his legs still blocked from sight by it.

"No," William began, his arms crossed over his chest now. "And I'm starting to think that he should be."

"No!" Jeremy hissed, eyes wide with something that looked like terror. "I can't- He shouldn't see me like this." he stepped back when William pushed on the door, begrudgingly allowing him into the room. William closed the door behind them, crossing his arms over his chest again as he leaned against the wood. 

"Jeremy, what's happening to you?"

Shaking, the shorter man shrugged. "I don't know. I've always kind of f-felt like crap, you know? But lately, things have been weirder and I don't know why. I keep-" he broke off, gesturing at the air around his head with frantic movements. With a snarl that sounded almost inhuman, he slammed his fist into his thigh, on a spot of blood that had welled up through the fabric of his pants.

"Hey, hey, don't do that." William snatched his hands away, holding them in his own. "Is that why you had the door locked?"  
Jeremy nodded slowly, letting himself be pulled against his friend's chest. 

"You've got to go back to the head doctor." William slid down the door, holding Jeremy against him, petting slowly at his hair. "I know you hated it, but it was better for you than just letting yourself be."

"I don't want to go back." Jeremy whispered, his hands clutching tightly at the fabric of William's shirt. 

"It would be better than ripping yourself apart." 

Jeremy nodded, eyes closing as he shuddered, his entire body shaking. "But then I would have to admit that- I don't want Harv to know." he shook his head again, his knee curling to his chest.

"You beat him up the other day, and now he thinks you want to break it off." William pushed Jeremy off of his chest enough to meet his eyes. The shorter teen looked up at him helplessly, misery painted so thickly across his face that it seemed like he had never been happy. "He thinks it's because of how he looks or the risk of being found out. He thinks you want to leave him."

Eyes wide open now, Jeremy shook his head. "No!"

"Then go back to your doctor and get things settled in your damn head!" William shot back. "Jeremy, I've known you since we were toddlers, I know when something is wrong. I don't know what's happening lately, but I know something is different." he took a deep breath. "Harvey told me about your eyes being black when you were slamming your fist into his chest."

"...Black?"

William struggled to his feet, pulling Jeremy up as well. "With red in the center." he sighed, then cupped Jeremy's face in his hands. "Something is wrong with you lately, and as your best friend, I say that you need to get yourself checked out."

"I-" Jeremy met his eyes again, then nodded. "I do, yeah."

They crossed the room together, William pulling the Freddy costume off the shelf first and handing it to Jeremy. "What are you going to do about Harvey? He's in not such a good place either, and it might be good for you to tell him what's going on with you."

Jeremy snorted, some of his bravado coming back. "I don't think he needs to know what it is, exactly. My shrink diagnosed me as Borderline, but you know that they only use that to categorize the people they can't fix." he sighed, sitting on the bench that was under the shelf and playing with the hem of his shirt. "I'm broken, and I shouldn't be allowed anything as good as what Harv can give me."

With most of his costume on now, William bent down and patted Jeremy's head. Before he could say anything else, a knock on the door sounded, both of them turning to look at it. 

The door opened, Harvey sticking his face around it. "C-can I come i-in and change into m-my costume n-now? Shift starts in h-half an hour, and I w-w-want some time to p-p-p-practice my playing w-with the Bonnie g-gloves on." he stepped into the room when William motioned for him to come in, his bag clutched to his chest. Despite the wariness on his face, he edged closer to his boyfriend.

"Well, I'm going to go practice sea shanties." William excused himself, making a beeline for the door with the Foxy mask under his arm, the hat in his other hand. 

The two others in the room watched him go, waiting until the door closed. Once it had, Jeremy cleared his throat and turned to Harvey. "I'm sorry about the other day." he whispered, hands rubbing together nervously. "I shouldn't have let it get that far."

"You-" Harvey swallowed, his bag dropping from his hands to the floor, a practiced kick sending it under the bench. "It didn't f-feel good." he muttered as he pulled off his shirt. There were bruises littered across his chest, a fist sized one on his hip. "You could have just stopped, you didn't have to egg them on, you didn't have to join in."

"I know, I'm sorry." Jeremy pushed a hand back through his hair. "I have to make it seem like I have nothing to do with you, don't I? You've heard the reports, you know what happens to boys like us." he took a deep breath, reaching out to cup a hand around Harvey's cheek. "I hate the idea of you being carted off. I know it's hard to believe, but I didn't mean it, Harv." he leaned in closer, pressing his forehead against his boyfriend's. "I'm so sorry."

"Jeremy!" Harvey hissed, shooting a nervous glance at the door. "If we get caught in here, we both get 'carted off' AND we lose our jobs, with the added bonus of everyone knowing."

Jeremy laughed bitterly, his hands coming together at the back of Harvey's neck. "If we get caught, which I don't think we will, I'll take the blame for it. I think Will might be hanging around outside the door to send people in other directions when they try to come in here." he pressed a kiss to the apple of Harvey's cheek, dropping down to kiss the column of his neck.

With a nervous squeak, Harvey tried to draw away. "But- I-" he shook his head, then melted into Jeremy's arms. "I love you." he whispered.

"Love you too." Jeremy met his eyes, a sad smile on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, some of you might recognize the conversation at the end of the chapter, and before you call me out on getting it wrong...
> 
> Harvey Gersh at seventeen years old is a much different person than Harvey Gersh at forty-eight years old. Harvey, at forty-eight, is an unreliable narrator. Memories fade with time and he lets his emotional state effect the memory he showed to Mike.
> 
> ...What did you think?


	3. I Wish I Knew What You're Going Through

**August 7th, 1966**

"Did you hear?" someone whispered as Harvey walked past. "The Welker boy didn't come home last night."

The Welker boy.

Brandon Welker.

Harvey sighed as he kept moving, his hands in his pockets and his fingers clutching the fabric tightly. Brandon Welker, the last time he had talked to him, was the boy who had called him a faggot. Known amongst the teenage population of their town, Brandon was a bully and a cheat, not even staying true to one girl at a time before moving on to the next one.

But there was no reason for him to go missing.

The immediate theory was that he had run off with a large sum of money that he had made in some illegal scheme of some kind, such was the rumor mill of a small town. 

With a groan, Harvey turned a corner and pressed his hands into his eyes, leaning against the wall. Thinking about it was going to give him nothing but headaches. Brandon Welker was gone, he had more important things to think about, such as why Jeremy had stopped coming to see him unless he instigated it.

Outside of work, they had talked twice since the day that Jeremy had apologized.

Speaking of work...

Harvey looked up at the building in front of him, pushing open the door and smiling briefly at the woman who looked up when he did. "H-h-h-h-hello Jane." he whispered, waving when she smiled back.

"Hello Harvey!" she leaned over the counter, her shirt somehow slipping down just enough to give him a view of the ample cleavage that lay beneath the fabric. "How's your day going?"

"I-I-I-" he took a deep breath, then shrugged, muttering something that couldn't be heard by anyone but him. "All I've h-h-heard today is Bra-Brandon W-Welker disappearing. I w-went to s-s-s-school with him, and it's a lit-little-" he cut himself off, frowning. 

Jane's mouth went into an 'O' shape, her soft pink lips shining in the light from the dining area of the restaurant. "Oh, I know! It's so horrible, what with him disappearing so suddenly. It's like he was never here in the first place, it's so odd." she leaned even further over the counter, her hands folding together under her chin. "Is a strong young man like yourself going to join the search party? I know that anyone who did would be such a hero in my book."

"He's not going anywhere like that, not if he wants to keep his job." Orsani's voice came from behind Harvey, making both of them jump. "Why aren't you getting into costume, Gersh?"

"S-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-sorry M-m-mister Or-Orsani!" Harvey squeaked, turning and running off to the break room. It was only when he was actually passing through the dining area that he paused. With a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, he turned his head to the side slowly, a menacing whisper calling to him.

The walled over door that led to a room that was scratched off any and all blueprints for the building.

It seemed stained, the lights above not quite reaching it and causing odd shadows to flicker across in what seemed like unconnected patterns compared to the people in the room. Swallowing, Harvey took a step closer to it, inching past it slowly. 

The whisper grew in volume, calling him to come closer and touch the wall. 

A hand fell on Harvey's shoulder, making him jump again. "Holy-!" he hunched in on himself, curling away from the hand and swatting meekly at the air. Standing with his own hands in the air was William, both of his eyebrows raised and a note of confusion surrounding him. 

"Are you okay Harvey?" William asked, leaning closer to the shorter teen. 

Nodding, Harvey gestured at the wall. "Y-yeah, just t-thought I h-heard something. Isn't t-the f-first time my mind b-b-betrayed me."

"...You heard something from the wall?" looking around and over his shoulders, William put his hand back on Harvey's shoulder again. "I need to talk to you. There's something weird going on, and it isn't good." he led his friend to the break room, ushering him in and closing the door behind them. No one else was in the room, Lenora on stage adjusting something and Jeremy not having arrived yet.

Fear pushed all thoughts of normality from Harvey's mind as he leaned closer. "What do you want to talk to me about?" For once, his stutter was overcome in the face of fear, something about what was happening grounding him firmly. 

"I think there's a ghost in the building." William whispered, sitting down on the bench and frowning. "I've been searching through what feels like three hundred years of newspapers, trying to find something in connection with Fazbear's, and I found something about one of the former employees killing himself in the room that was sealed off. Apparently, having found out that he was due to be fired, he somehow used his costume to kill himself in front of one of his coworkers."

"How long ago was this?" Harvey whispered too, voice matching William's. 

"That's the thing!" William hissed, pulling off his trench coat and hanging it on one of the hooks above his head. "The four year anniversary of the suicide is in a week, there's no reason for this to be covered up, but it seems to be. I think, actually, that Orsani might have a hand in the conspiracy of keeping it covered up."

"Why would O-Orsani take part in something like that?" Harvey frowned this time, crossing his wrists over one of his knees and bringing it to rest against his chest. "Yeah, he's cruel, but he's not a mobster. I doubt that he could ever actually murder someone."

William caught his gaze, making a weird face."Then what happened to Brandon Welker?" 

Harvey shook his head. "I t-t-think that Welker must have just run off." he shrugged. "I don't like h-him, and he doesn't like me, but maybe the rumor mill has it right?"

"And when, in the history of this town, has the rumor mill ever been right about something?" William glanced around the room, his fingers steepling under his chin. "Brandon's little brother had a party here yesterday, and we were on stage performing. Consider that for a minute. Brandon was here, we saw him, and then today dawns and no one has seen him since."

With a breath sucked in between his teeth, Harvey nodded. "I-it's a bad coincidence, to be sure, but I don't think-"

"Consider also, for a moment, that as Jeremy withdraws from everyone around him, his crazy uncle becomes more of a jackass. Orsani is becoming the more dominant of the two, and-" he paused, seemingly for effect. "Jeremy used to shy away from the man, badmouthing him and avoiding him as much as possible. Now, he's dropping dates with you to go talk to the bastard, and I know for a fact that he was excited about summer because it would give him more of a chance to take his best boy out on the town without anyone questioning it." William sighed, scrubbing a hand down his face.

"He- What?" Harvey bit his lip, eyes wide. "What do you mean, 'excited' about summer?"

"He saved every bit of money he could so that he could take you places and pass it off as hanging out with a friend. His plan was to drag Becky along, make it seem like he was seeing a friend and being forced to take his little sister." William nodded when Harvey choked on his own saliva. "And now he's acting like a grade A jackass, just like his uncle.

"I think, whatever is happening here, that Jeremy might be the direct link the ghost has to the world of the living." William pulled a book from his bag, showing the cover off to Harvey. "I found this in the back of the library, like it was waiting for me."

It was bound in black leather, the letters on the front sliced into the skin and painted an oddly calming burgandy color. Shaking his head slightly, Harvey frowned, leaning back a bit to read the title. 

'The Worlde of the Occult' were the words the letters formed.

"A-are you sure you should be reading that?" Harvey asked, an eyebrow raised. "It seems like the worst thing to be reading w-when there might be a ghost, if such things exist."

Before William could respond, there were footsteps coming closer to the break room door. Cursing quietly, the taller teen shoved the book back into his bag, sliding it under the bench just as the door opened. Jeremy stepped into the room, his eyes gliding over William and landing on Harvey. Instead of the normally bright brown eyes he had gotten used to and fallen in love with, they were dull, like whoever they belonged to was dead.

"Uncle says to get into your costumes and stop dragging your asses." he said, a sinister smile on his face that was at odds with the dull tone of his voice that went with the eyes he wore. "Qualin's already gettin' her self to be useful, you should too." he passed a hand over his gelled back hair, which was immediately obviously different from his normal bushy mop.

William busied himself with pulling on his costume, trying his best to ignore Jeremy.

Jeremy, however, had sidled up to Harvey's side. "Buddy, what on Earth are you doing? You're still dawdling, you're going to miss your cue." he lifted a hand slowly, sliding it through the shorter teen's hair. 

"I- Y-y-y-you've never c-c-called me b-buddy before, Jeremy." Harvey whispered, pulling off his shirt slowly, reaching for the Bonnie costume and pulling the shirt and vest out of the neatly folded pile. "D-d-d-did I do s-some-something wrong?" he was shaking as he buttoned up the costume, one of the pearl colored buttons slipping back out of its hole as he tried to work it through.

With a smirk, his eyes still blank, Jeremy batted his hands away and buttoned it for him. When it was done, he put his hands on Harvey's chest and pushed backwards until he was against the wall. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"T-then w-w-why are you a-acting like this?" Harvey whispered, his eyes wide as he tried to find something familiar in his boyfriend's face.

"William, go away, we need to talk for a little bit." Jeremy ordered, not turning away from Harvey as he addressed his best friend. "Harvey and I have some things we need to discuss, and I'd like to do so without an audience." 

With a worried look on his face, William shook his head. "Harvey's right, you're acting like something's wrong." he took a deep breath, one of his hands coming to rest on Jeremy's shoulder. Jeremy turned to look down at it, then focused on William's face, eyes wide and his mouth pressed into a thin white line. Between one second and the next, his eyes changed, the comfortingly familiar brown gone.

Left in the brown's wake was a deep blue, something that seemed too intense for the frame of his face. 

The gelled back hair, the blue eyes, and the fact that the Freddy costume was in a pristine condition...William swallowed nervously, pulling his hand back out of the fear that he would lose it if it stayed where it was. "Sorry." he muttered, taking a step back, his throat constricting with every breath.

A knock on the door slit a hole in the tension, and Lenora's voice called out as it leaked away from the room. "Are any one of you boys dressed yet?"

"Be out in a minute!" William called back, keeping his eyes on Harvey and Jeremy.

Jeremy let go of Harvey, leaving him pressed against the wall, then reached above him and pulled the Freddy head off of the shelf. Without another word, he slipped it on and left the room, the door closing quietly behind him. 

Meeting Harvey's eyes, William shuddered. "Believe me now?"

"Th-That wasn't Jeremy." Harvey whispered, eyes wide. He was still shaking, but now it seemed like it was because he was crying. "Jeremy w-w-would never h-have been that-" he broke off, sinking down to the bench. "He would n-never have been that awful." he gulped in some air, rapid breathing on the edge of panic. "I believe y-you now."

"Good." William held out a hand, helping him to his feet. "Change into the rest of your costume, I'm going to go guard the door."

Harvey nodded, still shaking. "Thank you."

 

**September 9th, 1966**

School started up again.

Instead of the normal grouping up of people that usually happened with each toll of the school bell, the social circles were shattered. With Brandon Welker still missing and Jeremy Fitzgerald acting funny in the head, things were dismal seeming. 

Harvey sat alone at the table he had shared with his friends, less than a year before. 

At the edge of his vision, Lenora stood with her bag against her chest. The look on her face was a mixture of pity and sorrow, and she looked a little less perfect than she normally did. Her hair was mussed slightly, and the hem of her skirt was hanging crooked, the waist of it visibly tilted at a wrong angle. "Harvey?" she called, taking a nervous step forward. 

Turning his entire attention to her, he waved, not saying anything.

"William told me what happened." she explained, stepping closer and closer until she was next to the table. "What Jeremy did was awful." were the next words, whispered as she sat down at the table with him. Less than a year had passed since they had been sitting in the sun and begging for the school year to end already.

Harvey bit his bottom lip, nodding slowly, eyes slipping closed as he jammed his hand against his forehead. 

Lenora put her hand on his back, rubbing slowly. "You don't even get to mourn in public, thanks to the stupid laws." she pulled him close, setting his head on her shoulder. With that done, she ran her hands through his hair, scratching at his scalp, trying to get him to relax. "It isn't fair that your heart is broken and you don't get to say anything about it to anyone."

He shuddered, and she felt tears splashing against her neck. 

"I know." she whispered, pressing her own lips together, trying not to cry with him. "William also mentioned that he's taken to walking about the restaurant with his thumbs in his pockets and his chin held high. Like there's nothing wrong with him, like-"

"Like I never mattered." Harvey finished, his voice unsteady.

Lenora didn't say anything to that. 

"William came t-t-to me w-with a theory, a little w-while back now." Harvey explained quietly, still pressed against her side. "He said that Jeremy might be hosting a g-ghost."

"Either he's possessed or he is an ass." Lenora pursed her lips, an eyebrow raised. "Doesn't matter to me which one it is, I am still half a second away from slapping him so hard his eyebrows fall off." she smiled when Harvey chuckled at that.

Harvey sighed, sitting up and wiping harshly at his face. "Maybe I don't m-matter." he whispered, turning all of his focus on a tree with leaves that were slowly turning orange. "Ma-maybe I never did. He w-was right to cut m-me out of his life." he shook his head, leaning away from her when she tried to hug him again. "I'm pa-pathetic, and that's all I w-will ever be."

"...He's dropped out of school." Lenora whispered, her hands curling together on the tabletop. "I know you only had the one class with him, so I just thought you should know."

"Good." Harvey said, voice emotionless and ragged around the edges. "Can we talk about something else?"

"William asked me to marry him." 

Harvey smiled at that. "That's good. I w-was w-w-w-wondering when he would. Ha-have you thought about the ceremony yet?"

"It's not going to be anything too lavish," she smiled, looking down at her fingers. Her ring finger was still bare, but it was only a matter of time. "Our parents are going to be helping pay for it, though, and our guest list can be fifty people long." she giggled, seventeen years old and already a blushing bride-to-be. "I'm not even sure I know fifty people I want at my wedding."

He nodded, then hugged her. "I'm glad you two are getting married."

"We thought we would wait until we were both out of high school, but with Jeremy acting like he is, I guess William just wanted to move on into an adult lifestyle." she smiled gently at Harvey, a hand on his cheek. "William has work today, so he's busy, but he wanted me to ask you if you would be his best man."

"Yeah," Harvey nodded, catching a stray tear that trailed down her cheek. "Of course I will."

She grinned, a facial expression that was not at all ladylike, and covered her mouth with one hand. "I am considering wearing a suit for the wedding," she confessed, a wicked gleam in her eyes. "Mother will be furious, but I think it would look rather fashionable. William agrees with me, although I think he is more excited to see me in strange clothes than he is about me annoying my parents."

Harvey chuckled quietly. "I would expect nothing less from you, Lenora Qualin. You've always been a bit of an odd bird."

"I'm thinking about making a stage name, Qualin sounds too plain." 

"I might argue with t-that," Harvey countered, but nodded. "What would it be?"

Lenora grinned impishly, her teeth bared and a twist of sarcasm to it. "Following up on the odd bird comment, Lenora Quail." 

"Lenora Quail plays Chica the Chicken." Harvey turned the phrase over in his mind. "Sounds right."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It should be noted that Harvey isn't having too good of a time right now. I guess I just like writing horrible things happening to people? I must embrace the angst-writing.
> 
> Anyways, everything is leading up to something, and if you read carefully, you might figure it out before I tell you. 
> 
> Tell me what you think?


	4. You Look So Pretty But You're Gone So Soon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, use of a slur. Just want anyone reading this to know before running into it.

Harvey, immaterial and silent, looked around the dining area.

Over a decade had passed since his death, the calender on the wall in the office telling him that it was two thousand and ten. The restaurant was wonderfully restored, the old paintings on the walls brought back to life and the faces of the dead remembered in a sheltered curve. The only thing that still seemed off was the walled away room, the one that he had once been afraid of.

Death, it seemed, had taken away most of his fears.

"Jeremy?" he whispered, voice hollow and quiet. "Are you still here?" he waited, arms crossed and hands tucked into his armpits. Nervous, he turned from side to side, listening intently. It had been a few years, and he knew that he had been unaware of most of it passing. Rebecca had explained it to him once, when he was alive, and he had started keeping a calender up for her.

It seemed that someone else was continuing that practice now, for him.

A faint whispering from the 'Safety' room caught his attention, enough to distract him from the door opening. He moved towards it, photos put into sequence to form moving clips, and put his hand out towards the seam.

"...Harvey?" 

He turned, eyes wide. "Hello Mike." he smiled, the expression unfamiliar and an odd strain on his face. "I'm glad to see you survived."

"Only sort of." Mike frowned, then came a little closer. Behind him was a man with red hair and brown eyes, his head tilted to the side. "It's been a while, how've you been? Wait, is that a bad question to ask a ghost?" he dug his teeth into his bottom lip, rolling the captured flesh around between the too sharp points. 

Harvey shrugged. "I don't really know." he gestured at the wall. "Do you know about this?"

"Know about what?"

He put his palm flat on the wall, closing his eyes. Even with them closed, he could still see Mike, the shape of what made him alive shimmering behind his lids. "The suicide, the haunting."

"I've been looking into the history of the place," Mike started hesitantly, hands running along the wall as well. "And now, Mister Bradect has been handing over his research to me. I've been promoted to the highest level I can go without being an owner, I think...He decided to give it to me, and he said it was because he wanted it to never happen again."

Harvey nodded. "That sounds like William."

"You knew him?" Mike's eyebrow rose, a small gleam of happiness lighting up in his eyes. "I was hoping that you did. I've been having him be here in hopes of anchoring you down and not letting you become like the kids did when they were stuck here."

With a small nod, Harvey looked back at the red haired man. "Who's your friend, kid?"

"You know him too, actually." Mike took a step back, his hand landing on the other's shoulder. "This is Foxy. Michelle fixed up all of the animatronics she could get her hands on, made them new bodies while abusing the hell out of her connections."

"Hello." Foxy waved meekly, studying the ghost in front of him. "Been thinkin' 'bout a new name, seems time fer one."

Harvey slid closer to him, circling around him in a way that wasn't quite walking. "It's good to know what happened to you guys, I was worried that you'd get locked away again." he pointed at Mike. "He left his body for a bit, I thought it would lead to it decaying and you all losing whatever ground you'd gained." he shook his head, next to the wall again. Harvey closed his eyes once more, pressing his cheek to the wall and imitating a deep breath. "I think this is the reason I'm still here."

"Hey Foxy?" Mike turned to his partner. "Would you mind grabbing me the axe from the office?"

"Gonna re-enact yer glorious rescuin', lad?" Foxy chuckled as he walked away. "I would say the words 'hero complex', but they don't seem ta apply when it comes to helpin' the ghosts o' the ones that died here."

Mike waited in the dining area with his hands clasped together behind his back. Venting heat through his nose, he watched as Harvey flickered slightly, the edges of his hands blurring as he pawed at the wall. "It seems sad." he whispered.

"What does?" Harvey asked without looking away. 

"You lived pretty much your entire life in this restaurant, and now you're stuck here in the afterlife." Mike sighed, rocking on his heels. "...Bradect's been telling me some stuff, and I kind of hope you don't mind that he told me about what your life was like."

Forehead against the wall now, Harvey's eyes slid over to look at him. "Told you what? That a kid with unnatural inclinations grew up to be a crazy old loony nut that died here?"

"That you were gay in a time where that could have gotten you killed." Mike phrased it differently, chin lifted up. "That you loved someone who wasn't right in the head. That, up until it all went wrong, they loved you too." he gestured at the memorial wall. "I also got to hear stories about Rebecca. I kind of wish that she had helped me, along with Diana, because from what I heard of her, she was brilliant."

"...She wanted to be a lawyer." Harvey's voice was almost nothing more than a breath of air. 

Mike turned when Foxy walked back into the room, axe in hand, and took it from him. "Harvey? Get away from the wall."

"What are you going to do?" Harvey pulled back, even as he asked the question. His eyes followed Mike as he stepped up to the wall and hefted the axe over his shoulder. "Mike?" he felt something in his mind shiver, a whisper of warning and fear. "What are you-"

The axe fell against the wall, knocking part of it in. 

It only took a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity, even for a ghost. Eventually, covered in dust and several decades of settlement, a door was revealed. Snarling, Mike kicked it open, disregarding all possible worry about what might be on the other side. 

Inside the room, in the center of the blood-stained carpet, were two ghosts. 

One of them was keeping the other one still, arms locked around their head and a knee pinning them to the ground. "Well," the dominate positioned one began, jerking his victim around until he could force them to look at the door. "I was wondering if we would ever be found. Last time we saw you, Schmidt, you were going to rot as you breathed."

"...We?"

The ghost laughed, a high pitched cackling sound. "Allow me to introduce ourselves." he giggled at the half-clever wordplay. "My name is Joseph Carter." he shook his captive again. "He used to be Jeremy Fitzgerald."

Harvey shivered, eyes going wide. "Jeremy?"

"Oh, right, you're the little faggot brat that he used to kiss when he thought that no one was watching." Joseph sneered, sharp teeth exposed. "He was wrong, I was always watching. It just isn't right, two men doing- Things - together." he shuddered, claws digging into the fleshy part of Jeremy's chin. "Take an unstable little brat with an easily influenced mind, throw him in my territory, let things play out from there."

"What did you do to him?" Harvey asked, eyes pinned to his former boyfriend's face. 

Jeremy wasn't reacting to anything that was going on. His eyes were a dull grey, the normal black and red having leeched out to almost nothing. Joseph's eyes seemed to have taken up the slack, a bright blood red that glowed from the empty sockets of his face. "I just suggested a few things." he hissed, teeth growing sharper with every word. 

Tightening his grip on the axe he still held, Mike frowned. "You controlled him."

"Oh, such a harsh way of putting it." Joseph clucked, one of his hands sliding into Jeremy's head through the now loose mop of hair. Immediately, the diminished ghost sat up, his eyes dissolving static as he tracked Mike's every movement. "And now that you're finally in here-" he cackled as the doors slammed shut. "I want to keep you here. Tell me, Schmidt, how did you keep yourself from decomposing?"

"I didn't." Mike admitted, shrugging as he let the axe fly into a wall. It struck with a thud, sticking at an odd angle. "My body died. I just had a few friends who didn't want to see me go yet."

"Hm." Joseph sniffed. "Pity."

Jeremy lunged, his hands turned into dangerous claws capable of slicing flesh into ribbons and his eyes an oddly glowing black. His mouth was open, but there weren't words coming out. The only noise he was making was the sound of a dead air channel on an old television. Mike caught his wrists, keeping them from landing on him. 

In the corner, now that the door was shut and locking Mike in the room, Harvey had his hands against his chest. "W-w-who k-killed Rebecca?"

Joseph flickered, vanishing from the center of the room and appearing in front of him. "I did. Jeremy had an episode, and then I took control completely. Her little bones broke beneath his hands, but I was the one controlling him. Her screams were-" he licked his lips. "God, they were beautiful. It broke him, just as we broke her together. After that, he was reduced to what you see before you, only it was inside his own flesh at the time." 

"And when he got caught?" Harvey inched further into the wall. 

Joseph leaned in closer, his snake-like tongue flicking out to run over his needle-sharp teeth. "I had no use for a choke-hold on a prisoner. I let him kill himself, encouraged it even. Had I known the little fucker would contact you, even after death, and drag me with him, I would never have let go of him." 

"You're not a ghost." whispering now, Harvey slid his back down the wall. 

"Afraid not," Joseph examined his nails, watching as they grew into claws. "Haven't been for quite a while. They were going to fire me, can you believe it? They were going to fire me, so I killed myself and waited for it to become a scandal and shut the place down, but then my death was covered up."

Harvey buried his head in his arms, his knees tucked against his chest. "Why Jeremy?"

"Because that little shitstain's uncle was part of the reason my death was never publicized." Joseph growled, his hands going around Harvey's arm. "It's kind of funny, actually. Even after all this time, when I let him be aware of anything, the first thing he asks for is you." he yanked on the other ghost's arm, hauling Harvey to his feet. With a smirk, he dug his claws into Harvey's throat. "Wonder what I would find in your mind? Doesn't matter, you'll become a puppet, just like him. Demon trumps ghost, after all."

Now that he wasn't focused solely on Joseph, Harvey could see Mike. 

He was on his back, on the floor, with Jeremy's clawed hands flailing in his failing grasp, a few scratches on his face. Any minute now, he would likely be torn apart, the seal that kept him secure in his shell mutilated by a demon influenced ghost.

"I'm not going to let you do this." Harvey whispered, his hands coming up to curl around Joseph's wrists. 

"Let me?" Joseph's eyebrows rose. "Who said anything about letting me?"

"Me." Harvey hissed, twisting the demon's arm in his grip. With a grunt, he twirled on the heel of one foot, surprise aiding him more than anything else as he threw Joseph back into his own bloodstains. With that done, he tilted, using his momentum to rush Jeremy and knock him off of Mike. "Kid! Go kick the fucking door down!" he shouted it, voice carrying an authority that he had never had in life.

Jumping up to follow his order, Mike ran.

Meanwhile, Jeremy was still lashing out at Harvey, his claws scything through the air at Harvey's face. Catching one of them, Harvey stood and dragged Jeremy with him as he struggled towards the axe embedded in the wall. With every step he took, Jeremy struggled harder, as if he knew what was going to happen. 

"Say good night, fuckhead!" Harvey snarled at Joseph as he pulled the axe from the wall and slammed it into the middle of the most prominent blood splatter. "You ruined everything!"

"Wait, no, we can talk about th-" Joseph pleaded, words cutting off with the swing of the axe.

Harvey, breathing out of habit, let the arm holding the axe fall limp, the head of it bumping into the floor before he let it go. It thunked against the carpet quietly, a note of finality in the final chapter of a book. With a sigh, he let go of Jeremy, closing his eyes. "Mike, I let go of Jeremy, you might want to get out of here now, until I can deal with him." he called out directionlessly. "He can't hurt me, but you're still physical." 

A hand landed on his shoulder and he sighed again. "Mike Schmidt, I admire your bravery, but you need to get out of here, kid." he opened his eyes, ready to continue scolding, only to meet a pair of familiar brown eyes that he hadn't seen for over twenty years.

"...Harv?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I...
> 
> There are so many things I want to say here, but I'll wait till all the chapters are posted.


	5. For Many Years We've Been All Alone

"Jeremy?"

For the first time since everything had started going wrong, Jeremy gave him a real smile, his hands curling and uncurling at his sides. "Harv." he said it again in a tone of awe and wonder. After a second, he spotted the man's eyes. "You're dead?"

"I died years ago." Harvey said, awkwardness returning to him, hands rubbing at the back of his neck and sliding up into his hair. "I- I'm still not sure who exactly killed me."

Jeremy laughed, a sad reflexive sound, and took Harvey's hands in his own. "Even now, with you dead, your nails are still all ragged." he ran his thumbs over the backs of his hands, frowning. "There's- You shouldn't still look like how you did when you died. Harv, that means that what was draining you as a living person is-"

"I was diagnosed with anxiety and put on several different types of medication for it." Harvey muttered, shrugging one shoulder and looking away. "You going off the rails did not help."

"Oh god, I'm so sorry." Jeremy's voice cracked and he fell to his knees, wrapping his arms around Harvey's thighs. They stood there for a few minutes, with Jeremy clinging to Harvey, until Harvey sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time and dropped down to sit with him. "I should have told you what was happening with me." Jeremy whispered, arms adjusting to be around Harvey's shoulders. 

"...What was happening?" Harvey frowned, pulling back to meet Jeremy's eyes.

From behind them, someone cleared their throat. 

Both of them turned, eyebrows raised, and tilted their heads at the intruder. Despite the difference in age and the now-silver hair, William Bradect was immediately recognizable. "Hey you two." he smiled, eyes suspiciously watery. "I'm glad to see you're back, Jeremy. As for you, Harvey, I'm actually glad to see that you're still around." he walked a little further into the room. "Young Mister Schmidt has decided to keep the restaurant closed today, in light of what is happening." 

"That's good." Harvey said shortly, tone concerned. "Jeremy, what was happening to you?"

Jeremy winced. "I never wanted you to have to know, I figured that I would be okay if I just-" he made a face. "In the end, I think it just made it easier for him to take me over."

"What made it easier?" Harvey almost growled, hands on the sides of Jeremy's face. "You owe me an explanation, Fitzgerald. Tell me what happened." he searched his former boyfriend's face, eyes narrowed and eyebrows furrowed, mouth drawn into a tight line. 

"I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder." Jeremy muttered, head sinking down between his shoulders. "It was a blanket term, they didn't have any clue how to fix people like me."

William stepped into the room, settling himself on the carpet next to them, fastidiously avoiding a bloodstain. "If you had gone back to your doctor, less than two decades later, you would have gotten a better treatment. In nineteen-eighty, it was recognized as an actual disorder, and a therapy was used to treat it." he leaned forward, putting a cautious hand on Jeremy's shoulder. His fingers passed through it slightly, making him wince at the cold sensation of putting his hand into a ghost. "Also, about your mother..."

Harvey looked between the two of them, then put his thumbs on Jeremy's cheeks, lifting his head up. "You should have told me."

"...I was afraid that you'd leave me." Jeremy muttered, hands clenched together in his lap. He turned to William, voice even quieter. "And I know what happened to her."

"You didn't leave me for being broken," Harvey shook his head. "Why would I leave you for something you couldn't control? At any rate, I think that the big mistake of everyone involved was going to work for Fazbear's. It got you killed, it got me killed, and I had to lie to what seems like several dozen guards who are now dead as well."

Jeremy lunged forward, starfishing his arms around Harvey. "My uncle is a fuckhead who deserved what he got." he hissed, nuzzling into Harvey's temple. "And I wish I could go back in time and skip town with you."

"Do you still lo-" Harvey cut himself off, his hands pressed into Jeremy's back. 

With a little gasp of air that he didn't need, Jeremy jerked back and nodded. "Always have. I remember saying something along those lines, writing it on a wall...I don't remember what else was said, but I remember being able to pass that message along."

"At the time I said I never did," Harvey whimpered, pressing himself against Jeremy. "I'm sorry."

"Don't think you have to apologize." Jeremy laughed nervously, his hands burying themselves in Harvey's hair. "You're not the one who hid a diagnoses and went crazy with a ghost riding in his head."

William, off to the side and chuckling quietly, looked up at the sound of soft footsteps. "Well, boys, you might want to look towards me for a moment." he gestured at the door, a soft smile overtaking his features. "There's someone here that you haven't seen for a good long while." he stood, still graceful despite his age. 

At the door, Brianna stood with one hand on her hip, the other held tightly in an aged woman's grip. "Dad?"

"Harvey Gersh, Jeremy Fitzgerald," he walked across the room and took the older woman's hands in his own, pressing kisses to her knuckles. "Lenora Quail has returned to grace the world with her beauty." he smiled as she blushed slightly, her eyes steady and focused on him. "Today's a good day?" he asked her.

Lenora nodded. "Today's a good day." she confirmed, looking beyond him to her two old friends. "Hello you two."

Harvey dragged himself and Jeremy off the floor, almost solid seeming as they walked across the room and finally stood in front of her. "A group of friends that hasn't been together since nineteen-sixty-six." he whispered, hand tangled together with Jeremy's. "They got married in sixty-seven, and in lieu of you, I was the best man."

"I missed so much, I'm so sorry." Jeremy reached out for Lenora's hand, smiling when she let him take it. Being careful, he bent his head over it, not letting his fingers go through hers, and gave a little half-bow. "I hope I did not ruin your plans too much."

"You didn't, silly boy." Lenora shook her head. She patted one of his cheeks. "But it was disappointing, I was planning on making it a bride's demand that the two of you danced together. If anyone asked, I was going to say that I had blackmail on both of you." she grinned as both of them groaned. "We should have run as far as we could the moment things started going wrong around us."

William pressed gentle kisses into her forehead, humming something that she once sang on stage. 

She put her arms around both of the ghosts, her head resting in between them. "Oh, boys, I wish you hadn't been forced to be here forever. At least, now that you're free, you can move on if you wanted to."

"Actually, ma'am," Mike waved when she turned to look at him. "First off, could the entire group of people come out of the murder room?"

He waited until they had all moved closer to him, then gestured at Harvey and Jeremy. "I don't think that they can move on. Their eyes are normal looking, which seems like it should be an indicator of freedom for ghosts, but they're also looking more solid than they did a little bit ago."

Brianna stood with her back to the wall, arms crossed over her chest. Even with the angry pout on her lips, she looked identical to her mother. "Mike, what does that mean? How about we explain to the ghosts what's going on with them." she shrugged when he looked at her. "Don't give me that look, I'm just trying to be helpful."

"...Sorry." Mike muttered. The scratches that Jeremy's claws had put into his skin were still there, an occasional glow behind them. 

"Wait." Jeremy looked between Mike and Brianna, then at William and Lenora. "Wait wait wait." he prodded a finger into William's shoulder. "I need you to poke me again, I think I know what he means."

With an eyebrow raised, William placed his entire hand on Jeremy's shoulder, pushing down just enough to get him to buckle his knees. "My hand went through you earlier." he shook his head slightly, frowning. "What on Earth is going on here?" he looked back at Mike. "Any ideas?" he gestured at his dead friends. "Not a thing in over fourty years of research has told me anything about this."

Jeremy slipped his hand into Harvey's, tugging it gently, jerking his head off to the side. When Harvey nodded, they both slipped away from the group, ending up in the corner.

"I think this means that we're supposed to stay here for a while." Jeremy whispered. "And your eyes are back to being the grey-green color they were when I last saw you." he traced the tips of his fingers over Harvey's cheeks. "I was supposed to be there for you getting older, I was going to get older with you."

Harvey shuddered around a breath, leaning into Jeremy's hands. "We never did get to run away together."

"...Is that what my eyes looked like when I beat you?" Jeremy asked suddenly, hands drawing back quickly. Frowning as he thought about something, he stepped closer, hands pressed against his own chest, like he was trying to keep himself from touching the other. "Oh god, is that all you saw of me after a certain point?"

"You s-scared me so much." Harvey shuddered again, wiping instinctively at his eyes, even with no tears actually falling from them. "Your eyes went blue, and no one seemed to notice it except for me and William..."

"I'm so sorry." Jeremy pulled Harvey's head down to rest on his shoulder. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry for all that I did to you, and I wish that I could go back in time and fix it because it was never what I meant to do." he kissed the top of the other man's head, petting soothingly at his slightly wild hair. "I meant to get you out of this town, to take you and Beck all around the world and see if there was any place that we could belong. I'd heard of small communities, groups of people like us, and I wanted to take you someplace where I could walk down the street with your hand in mine."

Harvey reached up slowly, fingers tracing up Jeremy's spine until he found the back of his neck, cupping his hand against it. "I don't really know what to say to you right now," he whispered, letting himself be held. "I'm still sort of scared of who you were."

"Can you give me a chance to try to be good for you?" Jeremy let his eyes slip closed as he arched into Harvey's grip. 

"I think I can manage that." Harvey leaned up, still slightly shorter than Jeremy, and smiled at him for the first time in decades. "Let's try again, we can do that, can't we?" he pulled Jeremy closer, arms wrapping around his shoulders.

"We can." Jeremy nodded, grinning. "I would like it very much, actually."

He leaned in closer, allowing enough time for Harvey to pull back, then kissed him slowly, a chaste point of connection.

 

Across the room, Brianna was giggling, her face hidden in her hands. 

"Pumpkin?" William called out to her, an eyebrow raised. "Is everything alright? You're shaking, are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, dad." she pulled her face out of her hands, then gestured to the corner. "Fitzgerald and Gersh seem to have made up for lost time, however, and it's kind of funny. Less than an hour and they're back to smooching."

William snorted. "I don't think that Hell itself could keep the two of them apart once they made up." he leaned down to kiss his wife's cheek, smiling when she wouldn't let him pull away until he was kissed in return. "They rarely ever had fights when they were dating, and when they did it was resolved shortly afterwards." he shrugged, then held out a hand to his daughter. "Why don't you stop peeping on them, pumpkin? They've been apart for nearly half a century, they deserve some time together."

Mike smiled, his back pressed to Foxy's chest. Despite the time that had passed, Foxy and William were still not on the best terms, the android still angry over the murderous ghosts being locked into place. As it still stood, it was best for him to stand in between them as armor and a barrier. "I think it's finally over." he looked briefly at the corner they occupied. 

"What's finally over?" Michelle called from behind them, her hands braced on her hips. "Why are we closed today?"

Irasa and Reyna stood behind her, clutching each other hands. "If we're closed today, did you call the rest of the scheduled staff and tell them not to come in?" Irasa asked, looking between all of the people in the room. 

Giving her a nod, Mike turned to Michelle. "The ghost thing, with the remaining haunting." he gestured at William and Lenora, then over at Harvey and Jeremy. "Diana seems to have been born again as Isabella, a little girl who knows what to do in the event of stranger danger. Jeremy's been freed from Joseph's choke-hold, Harvey and he seem to have made up, and they're weirdly solid? I don't know what's going on there, but I'm kind of glad for it." he shrugged, hands in the air. "Basically, I think things will be better from this point on."

"Yeah," Foxy nuzzled their cheeks together. "An' little Rebecca has been moved on for years. I think she forgave her brother long ago."

"Becky was here?" William asked.

Mike nodded again, smiling as he recalled something. "She was. She had possessed the marionette, from one of the other locations, and in the end she was the one who killed Orsani."

Lenora stood up straight, away from the comfortable lean she had adopted against her husband. For the first time since Mike had met her, she looked furious. "Good." she hissed the word out. "I was raised to believe that everyone deserves a chance, but my god, Orsani did nothing to deserve it."

"Rebecca, possessing a puppet, snapped his neck." Mike filled in, an amused smile on his face as he regarded Lenora. "I'm actually really grateful to her for it, because it kept him from shooting me. Apparently, in recovering the bodies of the victims out of the walls, I was a threat to the safety of his family and their history." he rolled his eyes. "Orsani wanted me dead, I think, from the minute I started working here."

Foxy chuckled. "It's a good thing that he never once succeeded, lad." he waved around them, his ponytail bouncing against his shoulders. "Otherwise, not a single one o' us would be here."

"As it was, some of the others were here for way too many years, all alone and locked in a room." Mike smiled at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just because I never found a place to mention it: Jeremy's mother, during the time that he was possessed (probably in the mid seventies) killed herself during one of her episodes. With one of her kids dead and the other growing distant, she didn't have anyone to turn to.


	6. It Hastens Our Trip To The Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's over now, you can let go.

**March 31st, 2015**

The restaurant was being closed down for the night.

Jeremy watched as one of the evening shift workers wiped a table clean and put the chairs surrounding it up on the surface of it. Despite the fact that he was fairly certain he couldn't be seen, he still kept to the shadows and hid in the corners. Harvey was less than three feet away from him, a normality now that they had fixed the gap that lay between them. 

"I think it's time." Jeremy whispered to him, holding his hand out as he watched the worker stroll back towards the office, whistling something as they went. "Did you leave a note for Mike?"

Harvey nodded, taking his hand in his own. "I did, explained what happens to a ghost at the end and everything."

"I-" Jeremy brushed Harvey's hair out of his eyes. "Five years wasn't enough, what if I go somewhere different than where you go? I don't want to lose you again, especially without any sort of goodbye."

"If that happens, I'll fight back." Harvey assured him, pressing their foreheads together. "I'll rip every sort of system they have apart until we're back together. I missed you too much to have to say goodbye again." he gestured at the walls of the dining area. "It's kind of funny though, I think I'm going to actually miss this place. So much time spent here, almost my entire existence, and I'm finally leaving and I'm going to miss it."

Kissing a short line across Harvey's jaw, Jeremy smiled. "It just says good things about what Mike has done for the place."

Harvey closed his eyes, tilting his head to the side and smiling. 

When he opened them again, the world had warped around them and Jeremy's face had lost some of the years that had been gained while he was possessed. "You look younger again."

"So do you." Jeremy pressed the pads of his fingers into Harvey's temples, an awestruck look on his face. "You look like a teenager again."

"I do love you, y'know." Harvey ventured, clasping their hands together firmly, a silent show of determination. "I don't think I ever actually stopped." he pressed closer to Jeremy, feeling a tug at the center of him.

"Love you too, Harv." Jeremy whispered back, his lips crooked in a soft smile.

An aggravated sigh sounded from somewhere to the side of them. "Are you two going to stand there forever?" came a girl's voice, playfully irritated. When both of them looked, a twelve year old girl with a wild bush of hair around her face crossed her arms dramatically over her chest. "Or are you going to come with me? We've got to go somewhere, there's someone we need to see."

"Oh?" Jeremy raised an eyebrow at her, a quiet sob wrenching from his throat. "And who's that, Beck?"

"She says she's sorry for everything she said when she was alive." Rebecca reported carefully, face scrunched up as she repeated the memorized phrase. She held out both of her hands, one for each of them, then grinned. "And she wants to apologize in person, but only one of us could come get you."

Meeting Harvey's eyes, Jeremy took his sister's hand.

Harvey took the other, then kissed Jeremy over Rebecca's head, ignoring the giggled "Eeeewww, cooties!" from the younger girl. 

All three of them linked hands and stepped away, leaving the pizzeria behind as they continued on a path that formed in front of them as they walked. The sun was high in the sky, the flowers were blooming in bursts of color, and there was an endless summer day stretched out in front of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to use this author's note to tell every last ready that I appreciate you.
> 
> I started this story out of a curiosity about what might have caused everything to be so awful at Fazbear's over the years. I was house-sitting over Christmas, watching Markiplier play through the first two games, and I sort of just...Wondered. Before I knew it, I was writing out the first couple of chapters, thinking that it would be contained to a couple thousand words and that would be the end of it.
> 
> Once I hit fifteen thousand words, it was much easier to quash any sort of hope of being done with the story anytime soon.
> 
> I know I'm not the best writer, and that there are awkward spots in this that could use some work, but I hope you enjoyed it anyways. This is, as of right now and unless I get any more ideas that could be written into this 'verse, the end of the series.
> 
> I hope that I'll hear what you think in the comments.

**Author's Note:**

> I want you all to know that I do not condone abuse. I am not trying to excuse the murders, and I am not supporting the woobifying of murderers.
> 
> I am just trying to write out a story with believable characters. BPD is a serious thing, and when it's left untreated, it can lead to even worse things. Back in the sixties, it was considered a blanket term and people who had it were left untreated and often ignored.
> 
> You also have to understand that Jeremy's is supernaturally triggered, but his mother's isn't.
> 
> ...Tell me what you think?


End file.
